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Tuesday, February 7, 2017

#626 - German Rivera

What a card: This is German Rivera's first and only Topps card. He also appeared in the 1985 Donruss and Fleer sets and then disappeared from major-issued sets.

My observation on the front: Nothing exciting about it, so I'll just mention that this was the first card I ever posted on this blog. It was the image I used when I was testing out the blog at the start.

More opinion from me: This was another player who hit the lights out in Albuquerque during the early '80s and didn't do much in the majors. That got a little annoying as a Dodger fan.

Something you might know: Rivera was the Dodgers' starting third baseman to begin the 1984 season. Pedro Guerrero was played at first base because Greg Brock struggled his rookie year. But Rivera went 4-for-22 in April and was relegated to pinch-hitter and defensive replacement by the end of the month.

Something you might not know: Rivera played in the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series tournament in 2015. Among his teammates on the Boston Wolfpack was Oil Can Boyd. Boyd faced off against Roger Clemens in a well-covered game in that series. Clemens' Houston team won. Rivera got two hits in that game.

My observation on the back: That 1983 Albuquerque Dukes squad was quite a team. Rivera tied for second on the team (with Tony Brewer) with 24 home runs. Sid Bream hit 32. The whole team batted .307.

-- The Hardball Times-- HighHeatStats.com-- Honolulu Star-Bulletin-- "If These Walls Could Talk, Los Angeles Dodgers" - Houston Mitchell--IMDb.com-- "Is This a Great Game or What?" - Tim Kurkijan-- the Ivy League